Favorite Crime

Love stories in literature usually narrate how two characters meet in a certain place for the first time which would lead to multiple encounters since destiny is real in the fictional universe. The romance either starts from the famous term "love at first sight" or from the multiple encounters that the characters have. A story will never be a story without a conflict as the romantic relationship between the characters would not be happy all the way from the beginning until the end-but that does not mean they would always end up in a tragic situation.

Love stories in a fictional universe mostly end up with a happy ending because destiny exists and will always be by the side of the two characters.

But love stories are not always nice. Some do not start in a vintage coffee shop or a school hallway in the first day of a school year, and some do not end up in a wedding as a happy ending. Love indeed is complex as it could either be a lifetime benefit or a permanent danger to an individual. But perhaps destiny does exist-but that does not mean destiny gives everyone a happy ending.

The question is, do the people involved in the world of crime deserve a happy ending? Or will destiny stay by their side to prove that love is more powerful than anything?

Only darkness was flashed for hours as usual until the sound of the alarm slowly awakened her consciousness. For the past years, it became rare for Olivia to experience a dream in her slumber. At that point, she would most likely feel like she was new to the world if ever she had dreams again.

Wanting the ringing sound that was piercing her ears to dissipate, the blonde reached for the alarm clock on the bedside table from her left without opening her eyes. Even after moving in to a new house, her alarm clock would always be on a bedside table from her left.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as soon as she successfully turned the alarm off. Her eyes finally opened after a few seconds as she did not even flinch when her eyes were immediately met with a pair of hazel eyes from a short distance.

"Good morning, Liv." A warm smile spread across the flawless face of the man across her.

"Good morning, Theo," Olivia softly replied as she sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes. Her eyes scanned the tall man from head to toe when she noticed that he was not in his sleepwear. "You're going somewhere this early?"

"Yeah. The board suddenly called in for an early meeting so I'm gonna have to head out first before you," Theodore responded as he fixed his necktie in front of the floor mirror. He looked at the latter through the mirror. "Would you rather for me to stay?"

The blonde let out a chuckle. "Sure, but no. The meeting's more important, Theo."

"I can just tell them to start without me. Home emergency." The brunet flashed a cheeky grin on his face as he fixed his hair with his fingers without taking his eyes off the woman through the mirror.

"Theodore, no." Olivia shook her head as she got up from the bed and stretch her arms upward. "I wouldn't lie if they ask me later why you didn't attend the meeting."

"Sometimes, I feel like you still don't love me."

Olivia stopped from her tracks when she heard what the latter said as the smile on her face dropped. She slowly turned to face him with a bit of nervousness.

"W-what do you mean? I do love you," the blonde responded with a forced smile on her face.

Theodore stared at her for a few seconds before the corners of her lips raised to form a smile as he walked toward her and gently took both of her hands, intertwining their fingers. He gazed at her bare face as he felt like a huge weight disappeared from his shoulders-one gaze on Olivia's face made him feel completely relaxed that he felt like he did not have to worry about the past or future. Starting at her face that looked like the most beautiful to him was the only thing that he wished he could just do for the rest of his life.

"Feels hella nice to hear that first thing in the morning," Theodore spoke as he let out a chuckle after before leaning in to plant a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you too."

Olivia did not reply as she just flashed a smile.

Noticing the time on his wristwatch, Theodore then decided to leave already, knowing that it would be unprofessional of him to be tardy to a board meeting. Feeling the solid metal around the ring finger of Olivia and hearing his favorite sentence from her in the morning were enough to make him motivated enough to work hard for the day.

Around half an hour passed until Olivia was done preparing herself to leave for work. The blonde walked down the stairs with her pastel pink handbag on her arm as she wore her thin gold wristwatch on the way as well. Waking up to prepare herself and head to the hospital after had become a routine for her ever since she received her medical license. It was different from how she was more than a decade ago in which she actually had freedom.

"Take care, Ms. Jean," one of the housemates energetically said with a kind smile on her face when she saw the blonde walking toward the front door.

"Thanks-" The smile on the blonde's face dropped when her eyes stopped on the necklace that the housemaid was wearing.

The gold necklace had small wings as the front design, which reminded Olivia of a certain someone from ten years ago that she was supposed to have forgotten about already by now.

The blonde swallowed a lump in her throat as she bitterly shook her head before continuing to head out of the house, forcing herself to stop thinking about that person.

"That's right. All of this happened for a good reason. I'm living a content life now," Olivia mumbled to herself as she heaved out a heavy sigh.

The blonde then got in her car and left the bitter thoughts out.

***

The weather was beautiful with the sky being bright blue and the temperature neither being too hot nor too cold. It was the ideal weather for most of the people. A brief smile stayed on the face of the blonde as she gazed at the sky before the traffic light finally turned green.

A tall hospital stood out the most in the streets because of its classy exterior design unlike the other stores near the hospital. Olivia could see it already from afar as she was about to drive straight to it when her eyes stopped on a small café by the sidewalk. Just by seeing the prettily simple exterior design of it, the blonde suddenly had a craving for a hot cappuccino.

The blonde turned the wheel to park on the sidewalk in front of the café after making sure that she was still 15 minutes early. It takes at least three minutes to make a cup of hot cappuccino, and the hospital was near the café anyway so it would not hurt to stop by for some coffee.

As soon as Olivia stepped in the small café, the pleasant smell of coffee entered her nostrils as she let out a soft sigh in relief. The blonde did not bother looking around the whole place as she was just there to buy a cup of cappuccino anyway.

"Good morning! What would you like to have?" the man behind the counter greeted in a bubbly manner as soon as the blonde stood in front of the counter.

"I would like a medium-sized cup of hot cappuccino to go, please," Olivia politely said as she took her credit card out of her mint green wallet after looking for it in her handbag.

"Is that all, miss? Our vegetarian sandwich is our best-selling menu for breakfast."

"Yes, that is all," the blonde replied without caring about the rest of what he said.

The barista nodded without saying anything more as he quickly went to prepare her cappuccino.

Olivia did not bother looking for a table to sit as she stayed by the counter while looking out the street through the glass wall. The blonde was impressed at how the wall looked completely transparent because of how clean it was as she could already imagine plenty of people accidentally hitting themselves on the glass. The thought made her let out a silent chuckle though the smile on her face slowly disappeared when a memory related to it appeared in her head. It was that person again.

Olivia clenched her jaw as she slightly furrowed her eyebrows and looked away from the glass, putting her attention on the barista who was making her cappuccino instead. The fact that she just thought about the same person twice already on the seventh day since she came back to the city was making her annoyed. One of the reasons why she agreed to leave Flyve City with Theodore ten years ago was to completely forget all about that certain person, but then all of her efforts to move on only vanished into dust as soon as she came back to her hometown.

The blonde looked down to her hands as she stared at the diamond ring around her left ring finger. It was the only ring that she was wearing, which was making her feel a bit sad. Ever since the incident from a decade ago happened, she could barely feel happy anymore. She was not even allowed to do the things that she used to enjoy doing back then because of the current circumstances.

Olivia ran her fingers on the metal around her finger as she could not even feel any butterflies in her stomach. The blonde had seen films in which the characters would feel happy whenever they see their engagement ring as she could only just be silently bitter about it, knowing that she would never have that kind of happiness from those movies.

"Here is your freshly made hot cappuccino, miss."

The blonde raised her head when she heard the lively voice of the barista as she flashed a brief smile while reaching to take the cup from him. The latter took her credit card as she patiently waited for the receipt to be given. Since she had been craving for it, Olivia did not wait to go back to her car as she took a sip on the hot coffee. Instead of feeling a sense of relief for drinking her favorite kind of coffee, she felt confused at the slightly different taste of it.

The barista handed the receipt to her with a wide grin on her face as if he was so proud of his creation. That was when she realized that the barista made her a latte instead of a cappuccino.

Olivia stared at him for a while before taking it from him without saying anything except for, "Thank you."

Worried to be late for work, she quickly turned around and was about to head toward the exit when her eyes happened to meet with the amber eyes of the person standing right across her.

The blonde then froze on her spot as she could not believe that the person whom she was just thinking of earlier was standing across her right at that moment.

Dakota.

For the past years, Olivia lost the ability to have dreams in her sleep though she never bothered looking for an answer to it as she knew that she would just be having the same dream over and over again. Since it had been a long time since she experienced a dream, the blonde then started to wonder if she was finally dreaming for the first time again as she stood across the person whose face she never forgot about even after not seeing it for ten years.

The blonde slowly looked at her from head to toe as she realized how much the latter changed after the years that passed, starting from her neck-length green hair. When her eyes met the pair of amber again, she briefly felt a shudder as she saw how emotionless they looked while staring directly into her soul.

"Olivia." The said woman gulped when she heard her slightly husky voice again after a long time. "You surprisingly look the same."

"D-Dakota," was what she could only utter in response.

There was no change on the taller woman's blank facial expression as she slowly took a step closer the blonde while sliding her hands in the pockets of her black blazer. It seemed as if Dakota's gaze could turn anyone into stone like a character in Greek mythology because of the way she made Olivia unable to move from her spot by just looking at her face intently.

"How are you? You look like you're living a good life," the serious woman spoke. "Even after betraying me."

The blonde felt like a sharp dagger was pierced right through her chest after hearing those words from the latter. Her head slowly dropped as she lost the courage to even look at her face. Even though it had been a decade since what happened between them, the guilt never left Olivia as it just painfully continued to chase after her in those years. There was nothing she could do but hang her head low and silently apologize likely until the day she dies.

"I'm sorry. I really am," Olivia replied, almost in a whisper.

Dakota let out a scoff as she looked away before turning her eyes back on the blonde-this time, her emotionless gaze was filled with anger.

"You're sorry?" she replied sarcastically.

"I really am." The blonde then quickly turned away as she prepared to leave already since staying in the same space with Dakota was basically suffocating her. "I'm sorry but I really have to go now."

But Olivia was not able to leave easily like that as she felt a hand wrap around her arm, stopping her from taking another step away. The blonde gulped in nervousness when she felt the latter tighten her grip on her arm to the point that it physically hurt.

The distance between them became thin when the green-haired woman stepped closer to her as she leaned in to the ear of the blonde. Olivia did not dare to move her head as she just froze on her spot and waited for what was about to come next.

"This won't be the last time we'll be seeing each other, Jean," Dakota whispered to her ear which sent shivers on the back of the latter.

After making sure that her message delivered successfully, the taller woman then let her arm go as she stepped back. She returned her hands back in her pockets as she watched the blonde hurriedly walk out of the café with her cup of coffee.

"You're just letting her go?" the raven-haired woman that Dakota was with spoke as she stood next to her.

"Yes, Knives. I'm letting her go." Dakota watched as her red car drive away. "For now."

***

For the past hours, the blonde had just been staring at the paperwork on her desk. It was unusual for her to not be working during work hours as she was the type to never do anything that was not related to work unless necessary during her work hours.

Ever since she came back to Flyve City, Olivia already knew that there was a possibility for her to meet Dakota anytime but she did not expect to meet her that quickly in her first week. She knew that she should be fully prepared to face her anytime since a decade had passed already though it suddenly felt like the blonde forgot all of the words that she had been preparing.

The blonde heaved a heavy sigh as she buried her face on her palms in frustration when Dakota with her dark green hair appeared in her head again. Olivia badly wanted to beat herself up because of the audacity that she had for thinking about how attractive she was despite the current situation she was literally in. It was her who ruined things between them ten years ago, yet she was just thinking about the urge she had to kiss her at that moment earlier.

"Doctor? Is it that bad?"

Olivia immediately raised her head in surprise as she realized that she was just talking to a patient a few seconds ago before she began to space out. The blonde felt embarrassed of her actions as she cleared her throat and returned her attention on the woman across her.

"Ah, no. It's normal to not have your period during pregnancy. That's basically the reason why some women assume that they're pregnant when there's a delay in their menstrual cycle," the blonde responded as she recalled what they were talking about in the first place.

Hours passed by like wind as it was finally time for Olivia to clock out for the day. Fortunately, only a few patients came by for some advices about their pregnancy so she did not really have to worry about getting fired for being distracted for the whole day.

"Good work for today, doc," the obstetrician that replaces Olivia for the next shift said as they walked past each other.

"Thanks. Good luck to you," Olivia replied with a small smile on her face.

The blonde gave brief polite smiles to the others in the hospital as she hurried to the underground parking lot since she wanted to head back home already. When she arrived below the hospital, she noticed that there were no people around but just cars.

The sound of heavy steps filled the area as Olivia walked toward her red car while spacing out a bit because of exhaustion. Just when she was about to open the door to her car, she felt her whole body being dragged away from her car as everything then turned black.

***

The blonde felt her consciousness slowly coming back as she furrowed her eyebrows while opening her eyes. She immediately squinted when the lightbulb above her was suddenly turned on. When Olivia completely got her consciousness back, she then realized who was sitting on the chair across her as she looked around after.

Olivia gulped in fear when she realized that she was sitting on a chair in the middle of the small square room with her hands being tied with thick rope behind her. In front of her was Dakota who was also sitting on a chair with her arms crossed across her chest.

The blonde instinctively tried to get rid of the rope tied around her wrists by moving though she stopped when the latter spoke, "It's useless. Knives made more than five loops and knots when she tied your hands."

"Why am I here?" Olivia immediately cut to the chase.

"What else? To kill you." Dakota then stood up from her seat as she slid her hands in her pockets and began to walk around the room. "Ever since you betrayed me ten years ago, I promised myself to get my revenge on you while I was in the detention center. Revenge how? By killing you."

"Then do it. Kill me now," Olivia fearlessly responded as she turned her eyes on Knives when she just noticed her standing next to the door of the room. Even she looked like she changed a lot just by seeing how she was staring at her with emotionless eyes.

The green-haired woman stopped walking as she let out a scornful chuckle while looking down on her black combat boots. It offended her. The anger that she had been keeping started to rise as she bit her lip and raised her head to throw a glare on the back of Olivia's head.

The sound of steps filled the narrow room as Dakota returned to the blonde's sight. When their eyes met again, Olivia felt a bit intimidated when she saw the change in her eyes.

"What? So, you're willing to just die right now that easily?" Dakota asked with contempt as she glared right to her gray eyes. "Do you even have any idea what I had to go through because of you? Because of your goddamn selfishness?"

"Look, I'm sorry-" Olivia was unable to finish her sentence when the latter suddenly pulled her handgun out from her blazer and pointed it straight to her.

The blonde widened her eyes as her tongue felt dry while looking at the muzzle of the gun. The eyes of Dakota were filled with nothing but fury. For a long time, Olivia felt intense fear again at that moment as she was scared enough to move a finger. That was the moment when Olivia realized that Dakota was no longer the same person that she used to know from a decade ago. At that moment, she knew that the latter could pull the trigger anytime with no mercy considering the intense anger that she was feeling toward her.

"That fucking word isn't gonna change anything and you know that!" Dakota shouted as she walked toward her and roughly grabbed her face while pointing the gun closer to her head. "You betrayed me, Olivia. You know what I've been through and you made me go through another hell again. Fuck you, Olivia."

Tears began to fall down the blonde's cheek as she felt her lips trembling in fear while forcefully staring back at the angry eyes of the latter. The cold metal on her temple was not helping as she felt like she was going to pass out any moment.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

When Dakota saw the vulnerable state of Olivia at that moment, she suddenly felt her chest ache. Her eyebrows were furrowed even deeper as she gritted her teeth while staring at her crying face. It was pissing her even more because she was supposed to feel satisfied while looking at Olivia's miserable, helpless state. But why was the sight hurting her instead?

After a while, the green-haired woman then released her as she pointed her gun to the corner of the room and pulled the trigger. The loud sound of gunshot made the blonde jolt from her seat as she started to silently sob with her eyes shut tightly. Dakota looked at her for a few seconds before turning away and walking toward the door.

"Let her go," she coldly said.

"What?" Knives asked in confusion.

"Don't make me fucking repeat myself." Dakota shot her a glare before opening the door and stepping out of the room.

Though Knives was confused on why Dakota did not kill Olivia as planned when she never had a problem in killing a person, she eventually obeyed her as she went to untie the helpless woman.

The blonde automatically had her knees drop on the ground with her head low while she sobbed as soon as her hands were free. If she had known that everything was going to end up like that, Olivia would have stood up for the both of them and choose her ten years ago instead.